Alberta Cross - The Thief & The Heartbreaker

Alberta Cross are a London-based band, signed to Fiction Records, home to bands such as Snow Patrol, The Maccabees and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The band were formed by Petter Ericson Stakee & Terry Wolfers, who became friends over a love of identical records. Despite their very different upbringings - Petter travelled from an early age between Sweden and England with his singer-songwriter father, Terry was brought up in London's East End - they shared a mutual love of music.

They were joined by Petter’s brother John Alexander Ericson on organ to record their self produced debut 'The Thief & The Heartbreaker'. Their sound has been compared to Kings of Leon, The Band, Neil Young, The Raconteurs and other blues influenced rock bands.

Alberta Cross is a dichotomous band front to back: the group comprises two permanent members, Petter Ericson Stakee and Terry Wolfers (best described as Anglo-Swedish); their sound flips between the White Stripes and the Band; and their repeat-worthy debut is called The Thief & The Heartbreaker (robbers and bad boyfriends aren't mutually exclusive, but you get it). The worst you can say for the tunes is that they aren't exactly original, but Alberta's got the dusty, gospel-tinged Americana rock thing down, pushed by Petter's star sailing vocals and loose, rootsy arrangements. Here's an acoustic take of a stand-out from the band's seven-track, self-produced debut.